COUNTRY :
United States
REGION :
California
PRODUCTION :
Chad Hinds and Michelle Westbrook Hinds
Iruai Winery (“ear-oo-eye” … the artist formerly known as Methode Sauvage) was started in 2013 by Chad and Michelle Westbrook Hinds in Berkeley, CA as a traveling natural wine project, before laying down roots in the mythical Shasta-Cascade mountains of Siskiyou County.
Trading in the urban winery hustle for the vigneron life, we are exploring avant garde vineyard planting and rehabilitation techniques using the permaculture methods laid out by Masanobu Fukuoka, while formulating our own “chaos organics” method of re-enchanting the land. Truly unlike anywhere else in California, Western Siskiyou County feels like a cross between Switzerland and Montana, cut with a rain shadow from Mount Shasta that divides it starkly between high mountain prairie and dense alpine forests.
Finding ourselves in largely untested grape growing territory, with high elevations and a continental climate, we have turned Iruai into exploration and celebration of esoteric varieties that flourish in the Alps of Europe. While we work to grow our Western Siskiyou County estate projects, we purchase fruit and lease vineyards throughout the Shasta-Cascade, from the Trinity Alps of California to the Siskiyou Mountains of Southern Oregon.
We seek to make wine with a sense of place by employing no additives, and removing no character. Our goal in the vineyard is to let the vines thrive like they would in the wild, and in the cellar, to shepherd each ferment through its own natural development and evolution.
“May Queen”
Region: California
Grape: Savagnin, Chardonnay
Vineyard Size:
Soil:
Average Age of Vines:
Farming: organic
Harvest: by hand
Winemaking:
Aging: méthode ancestrale
Fining: none
Filtration: none
Added S02:
“Shasta-Cascade”
Region: California
Grape: Savagnin, Chardonnay, Riesling
Vineyard Size:
Soil:
Average Age of Vines:
Farming: organic
Harvest: by hand
Winemaking: direct press, spontaneous fermentation in neutral oak with indigenous yeasts
Aging: 6 months in neutral oak
Fining: none
Filtration: none
Added S02: 35 mg/L
“Shasta Cascade”
Region: California
Grape: Trousseau, Mondeuse, Blaufränkisch, Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris
Vineyard Size:
Soil:
Average Age of Vines:
Farming: organic
Harvest: by hand
Winemaking:
Aging:
Fining: none
Filtration: none
Added S02:
“Sylvan”
Region: California
Grape: Trousseau
Vineyard Size:
Soil:
Average Age of Vines:
Farming: organic
Harvest: by hand
Winemaking: whole cluster, 7 day carbonic maceration, spontaneous fermentation in neutral oak with indigenous yeasts
Aging: 8 months in neutral oak
Fining: none
Filtration: none
Added S02: 20 mg/L
“California Alps”
Region: California
Grape: Chardonnay, Savagnin, Bergeron
Vineyard Size:
Soil:
Average Age of Vines:
Farming: organic
Harvest: by hand
Winemaking: pigéage, direct press, spontaneous fermentation in neutral oak with indigenous yeats
Aging: 6 months in neutral oak
Fining: none
Filtration: none
Added S02: 30 mg/L
“California Alps”
Region: California
Grape: Trousseau, Mondeuse, Poulsard
Vineyard Size:
Soil:
Average Age of Vines:
Farming: organic
Harvest: by hand
Winemaking: whole cluster, 7 day carbonic maceration, spontaneous fermentation in neutral oak with indigenous yeasts
Aging: 6 months in neutral oak
Fining: none
Filtration: none
Added S02: 20 mg/L
“Bloom Phase”
Region: California
Grape: Grenache, Pinot Gris, Syrah, Muscat
Vineyard Size:
Soil:
Average Age of Vines:
Farming: organic
Harvest: by hand
Winemaking: whole cluster, 7 day maceration, spontaneous fermentation in neutral oak with indigenous yeasts, carbonic maceration
Aging: 6 months in neutral oak
Fining: none
Filtration: none
Added S02: 20 mg/L
“Arcana”
Region: California
Grape: Savagnin
Vineyard Size:
Soil:
Average Age of Vines:
Farming: organic
Harvest: by hand
Winemaking: direct press, spontaneous fermentation in neutral oak with indigenous yeasts
Aging: 9 months in neutral oak
Fining: none
Filtration: none
Added S02: 30 mg/L
“Giallo”
Region: California
Grape: Teroldego, Refosco, Nebbiolo
Vineyard Size:
Soil:
Average Age of Vines:
Farming: organic
Harvest: by hand
Winemaking: whole cluster, 14 day maceration, spontaneous fermentation in neutral oak with indigenous yeasts, carbonic maceration
Aging: 8 months in neutral oak
Fining: none
Filtration: none
Added S02: 15 mg/L
“Sylvan”
Region: California
Grape: Trousseau
Vineyard Size:
Soil:
Average Age of Vines:
Farming: organic
Harvest: by hand
Winemaking:
Aging:
Fining: none
Filtration: none
Added S02:
“Oh-Mah”
Region: California
Grape: Mondeuse
Vineyard Size:
Soil:
Average Age of Vines:
Farming: biodynamic
Harvest: by hand
Winemaking: whole cluster, 14 day maceration, spontaneous fermentation in neutral oak with indigenous yeasts, carbonic maceration
Aging: 9 months in neutral oak
Fining: none
Filtration: none
Added S02: 25 mg/L
“Teirra Extraña”
Region: California
Grape: Cabernet Franc
Vineyard Size:
Soil:
Average Age of Vines:
Farming: organic
Harvest: by hand
Winemaking: whole cluster, 7 day maceration, spontaneous fermentation in neutral oak with indigenous yeasts, carbonic maceration
Aging: 8 months in neutral oak
Fining: none
Filtration: none
Added S02: 25 mg/L
“Blood + Flowers”
Region: California
Grape: Syrah
Vineyard Size:
Soil:
Average Age of Vines:
Farming: organic
Harvest: by hand
Winemaking: whole cluster, 7 day maceration, spontaneous fermentation in neutral oak with indigenous yeasts, carbonic maceration
Aging: 9 months in neutral oak
Fining: none
Filtration: none
Added S02: 20 mg/L
Methode Sauvage “Moonstones”
Region: California
Grape: Chenin Blanc
Vineyard Size:
Soil: limestone, schist
Average Age of Vines: 44 years
Farming: organic
Harvest: by hand
Winemaking: direct press, spontaneous fermentation in neutral oak with indigenous yeasts
Aging: in neutral oak
Fining: none
Filtration: none
Added S02: 20 mg/L